The present invention relates, in general, to emissive devices and, more particularly, to displays such as field emissive displays, electroluminescent displays, liquid crystal displays, and plasma displays and methods of manufacturing field emissive devices used in the displays.
Field emissive displays are well known in the art. A field emissive display includes an anode plate and a cathode plate that define a thin envelope. Typically, the anode plate and the cathode plate are thin enough to necessitate some form of spacer structure to prevent implosion of the device due to the pressure differential between the internal vacuum and external atmosphere. The spacers are disposed within the active area of the device, which includes the electron emitters and phosphors.
Currently, the anode and cathode plates are made from glass substrates having a maximum processing temperature of 600 degrees Celsius. The temperature limitation does not pose a severe limitation on the operation of the displays because they are typically operated at temperatures below 200 degrees Celsius. However, they do limit the types of anode and cathode structures that can be manufactured on the glass substrates to those manufactured at temperatures below 600 degrees Celsius.
Accordingly, it would be advantageous to have a field emissive display and method for manufacturing the field emissive display that mitigates the constraints introduced by high temperature manufacturing processes.